Mediator
"Gentlemen, please. I am sure we can come to a mutual understanding." Basic (KotG) The peasants of Bretonnia try to live their lives without noble interference. When the nobility get involved, people are beaten or hanged and food is taken, only making matters worse. However, the peasantry are far from living in a cooperative idyll, and disputes do arise between villages. Mediators are the peasants chosen to resolve those disputes. They live in one village and deal with the representatives, normally other Mediators, of villages with which they have a dispute. Mediators do not normally have the authority to make decisions, so they must try for a solution they can sell to their neighbours. Most Mediators are officially herders, as this gives them an excuse to be in odd places if the nobility find them. Whilst the overwhelming majority are men, a few female Mediators do exist. Main Profile Secondary Profile Skills: Animal Care, Charm, Common Knowledge (Bretonnia), Evaluate, Gossip, Haggle, Intimidate, Perception Talents: Dealmaker, Public Speaking, Seasoned Traveller, Suave Trappings: A Wandering Lamb or a Wilful Pig Career Entries Hunter, Man-at-Arms, Herrimault, Peasant, Rogue Career Exits Demagogue, Herrimault, Rogue, Village Elder Note: Only peasants may enter this career. Making a Mediation A mediator’s life is one of careful balance within his community as he tries to settle disputes without becoming embroiled in them. Most of the time, a mediator is reliant on the kindness of others within his village who recognise the good service he is providing. Sometimes particularly fair and well-known mediators will receive gifts from people that they have treated well in the past, though wise mediators are careful about accepting such presents lest they damage their reputation of impartiality. When a dispute arises, the mediator is immediately called. In principal, a mediator is summoned as a last resort if the two parties cannot settle their own differences. However, in practise he finds himself adjudicating over all manner of petty squabbles, from how small a pig needs to be to count as a piglet, to a farmer’s right to harvest cow muck left on his land by the cattle of passing drovers. When the mediator arrives at the dispute, he quickly assesses the situation. The appearance of impartiality is as important as impartiality itself, and even if the mediator has already made his decision upon arrival, something that often happens as one party is usually clearly in the wrong, he takes his time and listens carefully, nodding appropriately and giving sagely looks. He then makes his judgement and goes quickly on his way. With his job done, he is not bound to actually enforce the decision, though his fellow villagers will mostly abide by it. Of course, it pays to not be around if things do turn ugly. The Art of Mediation If the best mediators are to be believed, the trick to settling an argument, whether it is over the price of goose eggs or how high a farmer can build his fence, is to make sure that neither side is completely happy with the outcome. Only then can you know that it has been fair. Perhaps the well known Mousillon mediator, Mother Grog, put it best when she said “If a man wants a pig then give him a chicken.” Of course this rule doesn’t seem to apply at all when dealing with nobility. Instead it is replaced with a different maxim – if the lord is happy, then it is the right course of action. For instance, if the lord reserves the right to hunt peasants that stray into his woods and a mediator is called in to settle a grievance for the loss of limbs then it is clearly the foolish peasants’ fault and they should be punished appropriately…my lord.